


Tail of Legend

by ceilingfan5



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: AU, M/M, Mermaids, Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-27
Updated: 2013-07-27
Packaged: 2017-12-21 12:29:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/900318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceilingfan5/pseuds/ceilingfan5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr user ezrakoenigsdick asked for mermaid au cecilos and I delivered, as promised. </p>
<p>Mermaids. Cecil. Carlos. Dorks. What more do you need to know?<br/>It’s kind of long because I can’t control myself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tail of Legend

**Author's Note:**

> If at least a few people want I'll make a sequel. Please tell me if you need more mermaids in your life.

The first time he went down to the legendary beach, he saw no mermaids or anything that could have been mistaken for one. The second time was just as quiet, and by the third he was starting to wonder if he’d been wasting his time barking up the wrong cliff. He hadn’t actually expected to see a mermaid, but at least a seal or a batty local could have been occupying the stony beach. 

He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he was actually rather disappointed, and instead of rowing back to shore, he laid back and unwrapped his sandwich. It wasn’t worth the rental fees for the little row boat if he didn’t enjoy the waves and the interesting geological formations on his afternoon away from the other scientists, even if his pet project came up with nothing, mythological or otherwise. 

He couldn’t recognize the meat the local Subway had put in his lunch, but it left him full and dangerously sleepy and he trailed his fingers in the lazy swell of the tide. Some time passed before he noticed, but he suddenly became aware of something touching him. Long and soft, almost like…hair.

Seaweed. Obviously it was seaweed. 

He sat up anyway and peered over the edge, curiosity getting the better of him. He almost swore that there was a dark shape in the deeper water around the tiny boat. Maybe it was the seals that made the cliffs echo like the rumors of the mermaids. Hell, maybe it was a mermaid. He smiled a little to himself. He didn’t know what he was doing out here. Did he want to disprove the whole business, or actually find one? Certainly there was no such thin-

Something burst through the water and he let out an undignified scream. He backed against the other edge of the boat and the- the whatever it was gripped the one he’d been leaning over. He blinked and swallowed and it smiled at him dreamily. 

"What-"

He paused and remembered to think before asking any questions. He looked the wet creature up and down, and sighed. It couldn’t be a mermaid. It was just an obnoxious swimming local. He was too jumpy lately, what with the weird lights in the canyon and the oozing walls in his apartment. It just wasn’t scientific. 

He tried again, not disturbing in the slightest the man staring at him. Perhaps just at his hair, actually. 

"Are you from around here?" He gestured in the general direction of the town, figuring a local would get the point. 

"Oh, most definitely," he purred in a low, silky voice that left him off-guard again. “You aren’t." It wasn’t a question. 

"I- No, I’m not. I’m a scientist. …Carlos." He added, remembering a little late that these people liked introductions, and stuck his hand out to shake. The dripping man gave something he’d almost classify as a giggle and ducked a little lower in the water instead of taking it.

"Carlos… …I’m…I’m Cecil," he said, and then a little more breathlessly than before, “I like your lab coat."

He looked down but didn’t see anything special about it. He ordered them in boxes from a scientific materials supplier. It was just a regular weekday lab coat, though he did have the sleeves rolled up.

"Thank you." He looked down at the bobbing man and hoped he wasn’t skinny dipping. “Do you want a ride back to shore?" It was only polite. The public beach was quite a ways away.

It was the other man’s turn to blink, and Carlos almost thought he’d seen something strange, but surely it was a reflection on the water still dripping from his face. 

"You- me- shore?" This time he really giggled, and shook his head no. 

"Are you sure?" He reached for his hand, and must have startled him somehow, because he disappeared back underwater. He sat back and puzzled over this until he started to worry about whether he was ever going to come back up and leaned forward, searching the area for the man he’d just seen. 

There were no swimmers, skinny-dipping or otherwise, and he was planning to dive in after him until he saw the shimmering tail of something much too large to be a fish glinting on the horizon. 

He didn’t know what to make of that. 

Science told him one thing: test until you’re sure beyond a doubt. And that was what he’d have to do. 

He asked around town before the next time he went to the shore. Talked to people about the mermaid rumors, asked about sightings, questioned what people actually heard down by the cliffs. A person locally known as Old Woman Josie talked to him for several hours about mermaid etiquette and misconceptions. It was difficult for him to believe anything that came out of her mouth, and he kept referring to the incident and wondering if he’d just seen a big fish. She left him thoroughly embarrassed and confused. 

"I thought mermaids were supposed to be beautiful women."

"I thought you were supposed to be a scientist! What kind of an animal doesn’t breed! And I’m not going to make any comments on your preferences."

He’d blushed darkly at that. The swimming man had been rather attractive, now that he thought about it, but he had never claimed to be particularly good at…any of that sort of thing. 

She advised that he visit the shore again to listen to what she called the “show", which he assumed referenced the reported noises. When he tried to ask if the man was going to sing, or if there was more than one, she shushed him and kicked him out of her trailer, saying something cryptic about angels coming for dinner. He walked back to his hotel and didn’t talk to the other scientists and laid awake thinking about whether or not the man had had a tail and the way he’d said his name and the glint of the sun in his wet hair until very, very late.

He didn’t get another chance to rent the rowboat for almost a week, and by then, he was anxious to prove something. At this rate, he’d prefer to even prove that mermaids were real than to go longer without answers. He wasn’t usually this impatient, but every other study in that town had been a bust, and he knew this one had to be a definite yes or no. 

He rowed out to the cliffs again, following the directions Old Woman Josie had given him to the letter. This spot was a bit different than the others he’d scouted, with a backdrop of a wide-mouthed cave and lots of rocky cover. It would surely have a perfect echo, which was probably where the rumors came from. But, even in his little boat, there was no easy way to make it to the cave. No person with common sense could climb down the sheer cliffs or do as Carlos had done and then swim to the center. A rock wall stood between him and the cave, and though there was a wide enough hole for him to see into it, there was no way a person could climb over it or hold their breath long enough to swim under it.

It had to be seals.

But he was a scientist, and he waited. And, strangely enough, he soon found he could hear something. 

He peered through the hole and saw…Well, it wasn’t what he’d expected. Even after his visit with the old woman, he still thought of a beautiful woman combing her hair with a shell and singing, or a seal barking to its friends about the quality of the seafood, or, or something, but not…whatever this was. This, being the swimmer he’d seen before, lounging in a tide pool and speaking calmly into the wrong end of a conch shell. And, most importantly and quite eye-catching indeed, was his long, silver, undeniable tail. It came up to his midriff and sported, thankfully, realistic dorsal and ventral fins as well as correct muscle movements. He was so relieved to find out that it wasn’t some ridiculous movie-style mermaid he’d almost forgotten about the reality of the mermaid itself. Him…self. Was merman a better term? Did it matter? He observed for what seemed like hours, jotting down notes of how he moved and what his anatomy was like and even what he was occupying himself with.

It seemed to be some kind of fake radio show, which was not the kind of “show" he’d expected at all. He wondered if this was the realistic version of the singing trope, or if that was just this particular one’s ‘thing’. He didn’t seem to be talking to anyone in particular, but referenced the town he was pretending to address and occasionally glanced into the dark cave behind him. He wanted to laugh, but he didn’t want to be found. This might have been a private sort of thing.

After about half an hour, the…specimen… wrapped up his “show" and dove back into the deeper water. 

Carlos let out an audible gasp. He was beautiful to watch, his body a glistening marvel in action. Every aspect of him was perfect for his environment, even though he’d never thought of mermaids as being particularly suited for anywhere. This…Cecil, he remembered, he belonged here, in the water and speaking nonsensically to himself. His voice really was enchanting, as was his biology. He didn’t know what he wanted to study first, but he certainly wanted his hands on him. It. The concept. He wasn’t going to date him, that would be absurd. He probably had a slew of merwomen to get back to and-

"Carlos!"

He jumped for the second time and barely refrained from making the embarrassing noise again. 

"I- yes?"

He clung to the side of the tiny rowboat again and gave him a rather sharp grin. 

"You came to see my show?"

Was this an in? 

"…I did, actually. …Who were you talking to?"

Cecil blinked at him, and this time, the scientist was absolutely sure of what he saw on his face. Confusion, of course, expressed through three different eyes. Calmly enough, he wondered again if it was a mermaid thing or a Cecil thing.

"Why, Night Vale of course! It’s a radio show, silly. Weren’t you listening?"

No, he’d mostly been staring at him. For science, of course. 

"You were speaking into a shell." He couldn’t let go of his logic, even in the face of something—someone—like this. “Or was it a microphone?"

Cecil looked at him quizzically.

"No, it’s a shell. What else would it be?"

Carlos didn’t know why he kept arguing with a mermaid, but it was just the sort of thing he’d gotten himself into lately.

"A seashell can’t broadcast anything."

"Ah!" he declared, and smiled at him. “That’s where you’re wrong!" He squinted a little at him. “Didn’t you learn this in school?"

"Learn…what, exactly?"

"Oh, well it’s so obvious, isn’t it?"

"…No."

Cecil folded his arms on the boat’s edge, and Carlos noticed he had fins on them, too. Probably for ease of movement through the water. He wanted terribly to touch them. 

"Well, of course," he explained, as if he was talking to a child, “If you put your ear to a shell, you hear the ocean, correct?"

"Well, yes," Carlos couldn’t believe this, “But that’s just the blood-"

He waved at him to hush. 

"Oh, dear, sweet Carlos, we can talk about blood later. But you see, if you can hear the ocean at one end, then of course you can speak into the other, and the ocean can hear you."

"You’re kidding."

He actually looked rather serious. 

"Radio is no laughing matter."

"I…see."

"Good!" He laughed sweetly, and Carlos found himself thinking how he’d like to listen to that sound all day. “Glad we could clear that up!" He let go of the boat and almost made to leave. 

"Wait!"

He peered back at the man in the boat, just as curious as he was. 

"What?"

The scientist wasn’t exactly sure what to say, or how to say it without coming off as ridiculous. He just tried to push forward and get results regardless of how badly he embarrassed himself. 

"I- Well, I would…like… To study you. If you don’t mind."

The mermaid’s eyes widened, the third having changed colors since the last time Carlos had looked at it directly. 

"Who, me? What for?" 

"For science." That was terrible. “What I mean to say is, I’d like to study you…to get to know more about you. And this place." Nice save. “I’d be so thankful for your time-"

The man in the water splashed his tail gleefully. 

"You? Want to get to know me?? Oh, I- I’d love to! I want to know you too!"

He blushed a little and wondered if he’d been misinterpreted. 

"Maybe I could come back tomorrow and you could…tell me…about yourself… or the town… or show me around or something? I can bring some of my equipment…"

"Equipment…" he breathed, staring at Carlos.

"…Yes. Science equipment. For experiments."

"Science! You want to do science with me!"

That was one way of putting it. 

"Yes."

"Oh, Carlos, I’d love to!"

He smiled a little bit, glad to finally get a chance to study this phenomenon. And maybe, the man that came with it. 

"I’ll see you tomorrow, then."

The other man blushed even brighter than he had. 

"Oh! Yes! Tomorrow. Neat!" That was a new one. 

"Yeah, I guess so." He cursed himself. Scientists didn’t guess. “So…maybe you could let go of the boat."

The mermaid started and moved back, surprised he was still anywhere near it. 

"I-oh- sorry-"

"It’s alright." He picked up the oars, careful to not smack his newest subject in the face. “So…Goodnight."

"Goodnight!" he called brightly. 

Carlos waved and started rowing. Cecil watched him lovingly. He was finally going to meet the scientist! He was finally going to get to see his hair up close! No more hiding behind rocks, he was going to talk to him like an adult! He was…probably going to embarrass himself. Neat! Who says neat?? He wanted to sink into the water in embarrassment.

But he couldn’t help himself. 

He called after the scientist, who stopped just in earshot. 

"Carlos!"

"Yes?"

"If I tell you about…you know… could you possibly, maybe, please let me touch your perfect, beautiful hair?"

Carlos didn’t really know what that was all about, but if it got him the inside story on an actual mermaid, he was willing. 

"If you want to."

Cecil gasped and sank into the water, hugging himself with excitement. Oh yes, how he wanted to! Carlos! Hair! Carlos! Science! Tomorrow was going to be fantastic!

Carlos shared the same sentiment as he showered before bed. It was going to be a day of discovery, and he really couldn’t wait to find out more, or, well, to hear that enchanting voice again. For science. 

Neat indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Also on my tumblr of the same username.


End file.
